Trump threatens shut down social media platforms after Twitter put a disinformation warning on his false tweets, has been blowing up on social media platforms, probably for obvious reasons.

When I first saw it, I ignored it as just another trumpism that ultimately wont amount to anything more than sad cringe and embarrassment. However, since it seems to be far more controversial than I initially anticipated, I feel compelled to opine and provide some context regarding regulations in the tech industry. I hope this provides some insight into why The President of the US can be both the Symbol of Republican Politics and argue that the fastest growing industry in America is so unregulated and anti-American it should be shutdown entirely.

Tech companies are growing much faster and more aggressively than the government has been able to keep up with. There are a few government regulations out there, for example HIPPA and EU’s data residency policies. However, the big tech world pretty much regulates itself and governments have to just stand back and watch. Enterprise software has a complex industry around self-imposed regulations and compliance. Consumers, however, are pretty much on their own. Software like bitcoin and other crypto-currencies, media sharing and torrents, internet encryption standards, data tracking, in-home listening devices, and many others are out there without much oversight, juxtaposing heavily regulated industries like farming, hunting, and transportation.

The wild success of tech companies is an anomaly in the system and goes against many common political assumptions. For instance, tech companies are mostly founded in the most Liberal leaning, highest taxed, and heavily regulated cities in America: New York, San Francisco, Seattle, etc. Everything I learned about Conservative economics says that these heavy regulations and taxes should absolutely cripple startups and only mega corporations can ever survive in such an environment. Yet, the tech industry is the #2 producer of billionaires in the US. First place goes to Finance, and well… Finance definitely profits off of the Tech industry.

While the founding cities of tech companies impose heavy regulations, these regulations typically have little to do with the tech products themselves, and more to do with the people and infrastructure that creates the products. (Contrast this with transportation, where there are very strict regulations on things like emissions and safety, but workers have to form unions to protect themselves). Again, we reach a contradiction. Tech companies are in Liberal cities, Liberal politics are in favor of corporate regulations, and yet the industry itself is somehow very unregulated.

Finally, even more baffling, tech companies and CEO’s are huge promoters for regulations in the tech industry. As an example, consider the controversial Net Neutrality laws. Google, Facebook, and Twitter all took a very clear stance that Net Neutrality regulations should remain, while Republicans argued that these laws and regulations are crippling the very industry fighting to keep them in place.



So, how did we get to a point where the most Bigly Republican president to ever grace our nation comes so staunchly against one of the most core Republican platforms? For a president who heavily relies on divisiveness to empower his base, he has to stick it to the libtards in tech somehow. He can’t criticize the industry directly, since it already exists in this massive contradictory space of American politics. By the very nature of existing in that space, what else could tech be but a massively successful refutation and conspiracy against Republicanism? Thus, even in its glorious state of deregulation, it is this very attribute that serves as a massive blockade against MAGA and so it must be shutdown!